Between
by The Pale Bride
Summary: The Velvet Room floats untethered by silly little things like time and space, and its residents, too, have little regard for silly human rules. Elizabeth/female protagonist/Theodore


When Makoto stepped into the Velvet Room late one sunny afternoon, she expected to do the usual - some chatting with Igor, some flipping through the Persona Compendium, and a little rearranging of the sea of her soul. But Elizabeth grabbed her by the hand the second she stepped inside, and one thing led to another...

And now she's lying on the biggest, softest bed she's ever seen in her life, staring up at a blue velvet ceiling sprinkled with little diamond stars. Elizabeth is on her left, snuggled up against her side; on her right, Theo is propped up on one elbow, curiously studying her MP3 player.

It's not the way she expected to spend her afternoon, no. But really, she can't complain.

"You're the first guest ever to see these rooms." Elizabeth sounds awfully pleased with herself - her voice is practically a purr. "Isn't that right, Theo?"

Distracted by the little piece of technology in his hands, Theo only gives a vague nod. It's cute, how fascinated he is by something that Makoto takes for granted - but then, she's equally fascinated by the room they live in when they're not helping her. Everything is soft and blue and soothing, and there's something in the air that makes her skin tingle, something unearthly and _other_.

_This place exists between dream and reality,_ she remembers Igor telling her, _mind and matter..._ and now she fully understands what that means. It's magical here. She's truly glad that Elizabeth and Theo saw fit to share some of that magic with her.

She doesn't get to spend much time with the two of them together, so on top of staring in awe at her surroundings she tries to take in the way they interact, the good-natured bickering and the constant reminders that Elizabeth is older, wiser, better. If not for that, Makoto thinks, the two of them could pass for twins.

"It came at a price," Elizabeth goes on, stretching like a particularly satisfied cat. "Theo will have to organize and dust the entire Compendium library."

Theo lets the MP3 player fall from his fingers, and looks up with a resigned sigh. "Our master _did_ say that was _your_ punishment -"

"_And_," Elizabeth continues, ignoring her brother completely, "he will have to -"

"I don't really think our guest cares to hear about _that_, dearest sister," Theo interrupts, rather hastily.

Makoto does care to hear about that, actually, but going by the interesting shade of pink Theo's face has turned she guesses it's better not to ask. "You know what your guest does care to hear?" she asks, sitting up and slinging an affectionate arm around Theo's shoulders. "How you two just love her to bits."

She doesn't need to be told that she's loved to know it. But it's... nice, sometimes, especially when it comes from Elizabeth and Theo. They're just so honest, so naive and yet wiser than she can ever hope to be, and almost _everything_ they say touches her heart - but she likes to hear what they think of her most of all.

Theo wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her into his lap, and she's only too happy to relax there, her cheek resting against his chest. Maybe he and his sister aren't human - maybe they don't even exist - but his heartbeat is steady and as real as anything she's ever felt, and that's enough. "I care about you very much, master Makoto," he whispers in her ear. "Very, _very_ much."

The bed shifts as Elizabeth moves to sit close beside them, one leg carelessly tossed over Theo's. Her hand searches out Makoto's and squeezes tight. "Don't let my foolish brother steal your heart," she murmurs. "He's quite the thief, you know."

As if to prove his sister right, Theo deftly unties the ribbon around Makoto's neck and steals it for himself. With the utmost care, Elizabeth takes Makoto's headphones and MP3 player in return. Before she knows it she's caught in some perverse game of tug-of-war, the siblings taking it in turns to relieve her of her clothing until only her underwear remains.

Elizabeth wins in the end, if snatching Makoto's left sock away from Theo's reaching hand constitutes a victory.

"You two are _awfully_ overdressed," Makoto comments once they're done, looking her two hosts over with a critical eye. Not that they aren't _always_ overdressed, but now they're exceptionally so, and the only thing keeping her from undressing them to return the favor is an inability to decide who should be first. Finally she chooses Elizabeth, if only because she has fewer clothes to do away with.

Once she's stripped Elizabeth of her boots, gloves, and dress, she turns to find that Theo has taken matters into his own hands. Bare skin touches bare skin when he reaches out to touch her shoulders, bright gold eyes burning into hers as he leans in for a kiss. For a moment she and he are the only two people who exist - but then Elizabeth starts kissing her shoulder, up her neck to behind her ear, and the world consists of the three of them once more.

They go back and forth like that, Theo then Elizabeth then Theo again; each finding new ground, new places to touch and kiss and shower love upon, all the while fighting to make sure that she doesn't have a hope of forgetting that either of them are there. And maybe it's because of the magic of this place, or maybe it's because they're just so _honest_ in everything they do, but it's the best damn foreplay Makoto's ever had. By the time Theo is pressing kisses to her belly and Elizabeth is freeing her of her bra she's absolutely dripping wet, and it's all she can do to gasp out a breathless "please, _more_!"

Elizabeth is the one to touch her first, just enough pressure against her clit to make her arch her back and grind against it. Theo slips a finger inside her, and it's so easy, she's so wet and ready and _wanting_ something much, much more, but the siblings are having none of that. They drive her crazy, the two of them, still fighting over her attention; when Theo lifts his hand up to toy with her clit Elizabeth's hand slips lower, and when Theo is pressing kisses all across her chest Elizabeth is tracing patterns against her inner thigh with her own slickness.

"Theo, please -" she gasps, when she doesn't think she can stand being teased another second, and she spreads her legs wide for him, begging without words, not caring one bit about how she might look as long as it will get him inside her. After a too-long moment, or two, it finally does; his hand brushes her face, cups her cheek in gentle warning, and she feels him pressed against her. And in one long, firm push, he is inside.

It feels so _good_ to have something inside her, filling her, something to clench down on and squeeze, and the pure joy of it draws a giggle from her lips as she turns her head and kisses Theo's fingers. The slick slide of motion, of careful, shallow thrusts, seems all the better for how every nerve in her body tingles with energy and want. _Magical_.

When Elizabeth touches her there, strokes and presses and _caresses_ her clit and somehow knows exactly what Makoto wants, that, too, is magical. Theo pushes in, and Elizabeth presses down. Theo slides out, and Elizabeth's fingers move in small, tight circles, gliding on Makoto's wetness. Neither gives the other a chance to steal Makoto's undivided attention, but the fight seems more like a dance, perfectly choreographed, with never a false step.

Perhaps that's the best way for both of them to win the fight, for when Makoto tips back her head and whimpers her climax to the diamond-starred ceiling, she can't for the life of her decide who it was that brought her there.

She feels no urgency, after, no pressing need to return to her world and leave this wonderful place. Nobody needs to tell her that time moves differently here for her to feel it in the way it makes her lazy and slow, and utterly at ease, utterly content to relax against the velvet-soft bed and close her eyes.

Theo cradles her head, toys with her hair. Elizabeth rubs her sides and stomach and anywhere she can reach.

"I have a request for you," Elizabeth whispers into her ear.

"Stay with us," Theo urges. "For just a little while longer."

Makoto takes each of them by the hand and falls asleep between them, and she thinks, as she drifts off, that Theo is indeed a thief; but so is Elizabeth, for they have taken hold of her heart in equal shares. They might fight over who is smarter, stronger, better, but Makoto knows that they are both perfect in their own ways.

And that there is no better place in the world than right between them.


End file.
